


All i want

by Glowing_dimp_as_an_ember



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, Mortal AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 18:38:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9001990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glowing_dimp_as_an_ember/pseuds/Glowing_dimp_as_an_ember
Summary: Will rested his chin on the palm of his hand, leaning forward slightly, careful not to knock any of the dishes he had spent most of his morning setting up to the floor. It wasn’t that late yet, the fact that there was no one there to held tightly the fragments of his breaking heart didn’t mean no one weren’t to appear, that no one would knock on his door or to ring on his doorbell at all.





	

His blue eyes glanced one last time at the empty space on the other side of the table, spot where a porcelain plate laid untouched next to a festive napkin under recently polished silverware. He had lost count already of how many minutes in total he had been longingly staring at the chair separated only by the small banquet he had prepared previously that same day. Although, in all honesty, he would say he was better off without knowing, that was one of the few topics that he would rather stay ignorant about; being aware of that significant detail would only make the knot on his stomach grow heavy.

The blond shifted slightly on his sit, the decorative red cushion with greenish ribbons moving underneath him as well, no longer being centered on the place it had been set hours ago in anticipation, when the flame of excitement shined bright without a care in the world inside his soul, a really strong contrast when taking account of the current state of the glimmer, barely alive at the moment. His enthusiasm had slowly started to die down a couple of hours back, as soon as he saw the elegant sunlight disappear in the horizon, the lasts of its golden rays reaching for the windows of his apartment as a final goodbye before vanishing into thin air.

Will rested his chin on the palm of his hand, leaning forward slightly, careful not to knock any of the dishes he had spent most of his morning setting up to the floor. It wasn’t that late yet, the fact that there was no one there to held tightly the fragments of his breaking heart didn’t mean no one weren’t to appear, that no one would knock on his door or to ring on his doorbell at all.

The essence coming out from the food carefully placed on the center found its way to his nostrils, making his stomach growl quietly. His eyes looked down at the still relatively warm dishes, at least judged by the almost unnoticeable smoke just above their surface, slowly wandering through the whole table.

Considering how Christmas eve, as well as the main celebration, were taking place on the weekend, he had had a considerable amount of time to get everything he needed ready; he had never seen his holiday decorated table so full since a couple of years back, he would bet that not even then one could have been able to admire such delicacies in one single place. He had thought through the entire menu nonstop until the previous day, making a quick list of every single option since the very beginning, its level of difficulty, the ingredients needed for its preparation, the time it would take for each single one of them to be ready. At the end, the blond had decided to keep it simple, as simple as a dinner to welcome someone he hadn’t seen in a while could ever aspire to be.

Today, that very same day, was finally the end of his flatmate’s stay in a foreign land, when his boyfriend for over four years would finally return from his business trip to Italy, the first time he would be able to see him, talk to him face to face after not long enough video calls held not so constantly over more than thirty six months. He still recalled that certain afternoon when the other had let out the news bounce along the silent apartment. How could he even forget when that was one of the last times his heart had shattered like fragile glass that had been violently thrown to the hard surface of the ground?

It had been mid-September, the delicate leaves dancing outside the windows as they ate some pizza leftovers of the late meal they couldn’t finish the previous night. The lunch had gone not so different than the rest of them since they had started sharing a place to live in, some silent while they began to satisfy their hunger before engaging themselves into a rather interesting conversation, expect with the fact that, on that certain occasion, the path their talk had walked down was not the most cheerful of the bunch.

“My father asked me for a favor.” The owner of the dark chocolate eyes had said out of nowhere, his glance fixed on the slice of pizza in front of him as if it was the most interesting thing to ever exist.

Will tilted his head slightly to the side, staring at the other curiously, especially when his companion just decided to keep looking at the food on his place rather blankly instead of continuing, instead of saying his current train of thought out loud. Even though Nico was indeed not that talkative, especially after having nothing to eat for a considerable time after being truly hungry, the situation did not equal the rest of the ones they had previously lived through: the other wanted to tell him but something, someone was holding him back, that obstacle for the message being his own self, he was not certain if he really wanted to see the reaction of the blond after the words were outspoken with his own eyes

“Neeks?” The blond had asked after what seemed as an eternity of endless silence, the atmosphere of tension being so thick that he found himself unable to properly breathe.

The addressed being looked up hesitantly, his nervousness being obvious by the way his bottom lip was trapped between his teeth. The dark-haired took a couple of deep breaths, either as an attempt to calm the rapid beating of his heart or simply just as a way to bear with the sudden awkwardness that had fallen upon their conversation.

“I’ll…be away for a while.” His companion had confessed, holding his stare dubitably although it was no secret that said task what taking a lot out of him since his irises couldn’t seem to be able to stay still.

The blue eyed frowned slightly at those words, not really because of what they would mean but rather due to the fact that he could not comprehend why the other appeared reluctant him that piece of information to begin with. Why was the other making such a big deal about it? Whatever the complete picture was he was certain that, if not get it at first, he would do his best to understand. Didn’t the brown eyed know that?

“Where are you going?” He inquired, leaning forward slightly as if that were the only condition for the message not to get lost in the empty space in between them.

“Italy.” Nico had mumbled under his breath, although it didn’t prevent him from hearing the other’s response.

The dark-haired had been born in the republic located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea and, even though he had moved to America while he was still pretty young, Will knew the shorter boy still shared a connection with his late mother’s country. That was one of the first things he had noticed about the other due to their conversations in the past, on the very first days of their friendship when every single word that came out of their months as well as every single action they were to make took place in a rather hesitant manner.

He had heard the brown eyed said in multiple occasions how much he would want to visit that piece of land across the sea, how he would like to walk through the streets and hallways of the city that had a especial place on his heart even though his brain only possessed ghostly memories about it. Sometimes, the other look at a random spot in the space and tell him a blurry scene that took place on his early years or just simply rumble, in a way that the blue eyes considered to be honestly adorable, about things his Italian side of the family would do as well as locations his mother would go, taking him and his sister along.

It had been a rather sensitive topic, the blond could see it in the way the dark chocolate eyes would glow dimly, a sudden veil of melancholy settling over his glance, as soon as something even remotely related came up, not really due to the place he could have call home forever, or at least a considerable time if things that gone differently but because of what that certain spot on the map would imply: something he had long lost but no was finding again with time.

That did not mean, however, that Will didn’t think the dark-haired would need some closure, the wound might have not been open anymore but it hadn’t healed enough to be considered a scar. The blue eyed not wished for the other to forget, to act like nothing bad had ever happened: the shadows of his past needed to be respected as much as his own were by the shorter one. No, he didn’t want that, although he did think that facing the ghosts that seemed to haunt him some nights was better than just ignoring their existence forever.

“I would probably be back in…maybe three years or so.” Nico’s voice cut through the silent room, interrupting his line of thoughts so violently that the blue eyed might have as well been shaken by his shoulders without a care.

The amount of time the other’s words had spelled out left him dumbfounded, unable of doing anything but stare at the being in front of him, his lips partly open in surprise as his brain tried to form somehow coherent words to express the current state of mind. He mentally searched and scanned the phrase that had left Nico’s mouth, multiple scenarios flashing on his head, possible outcomes and implications which were either somewhere near decent, bad, or just fell into relatively neutral ground.

While they were separated, quite a lot could happen. Sure, it wasn’t like they hadn’t been away from each other before, each one had their own life, but at least he knew that they weren’t on different continents back then, he could reach the dark-haired individual with a phone call without having to think about time zones separated by an ocean.

“It’s…mostly because of business, some errands for my father…” The Italian had spoken once more, although his intervention progressively got lost in the air, his features showing an evident shade of evident worry.

“Do you have a clue about when are you leaving?” Will found himself asking as soon as the sounds in the room had died down once again, his inners being the stage of a hurracaine of undescribable emotions.

Nico put a hand under the table, the ending of his limb being suddenly out of his field of view, although the blond could bet the brown eyed was absently playing with his silvery ring, which, he had noticed a while back, helped considerably when the shorter one was feeling rather tensed. “I’m supposed to leave a couple of days after Christmas season.”

“I can help you do packing, you sometimes are not the most organized person.” Will simply had answered, a soft smile displayed on his features. If the dark-haired wished to do that trip, he wouldn’t dare to go against them; after all, if the mere idea of going away had gone against his own personal desires, he doubted the stubborn boy in front of him would have accepted so easily.

He looked up from the Christmas dinner that was slowly growing colder and colder with every second that seemed to pass. If he could concentrate hard enough, he could still catch a ghostly vision of the little but meaningful smile the Italian had offered him after it was obvious that an argument wouldn’t be born anytime soon when talking about that certain topic, shortly followed by a reassuring nod that whipped all the possible outcomes that his brain had started to create in one of the darkest corners of his brain.

He had told the blond later that night, in the middle of their monthly movie marathon, about the details of the situation, how his father had asked for him to travel to his mother land to supervise some rather important projects for the company he owned. After knowing where the reunions would most likely take place, Nico couldn’t turn down such tempting offer: a considerable amount of time, although with help of other’s wallet, under the stars of Venice.

He would be back near the edge of October, the black haired had reminded him before they both got on the car that would take the shorter on to the airport where they would have their final goodbye until they were to see each other again. The blue eyed had added the date to the calendar app on his phone shortly after the figure of the other was no longer in sight, he didn’t think he would forget but having it written somewhere besides the walls of his mind made, even if also the wait, the encounter more real, reminding him that the absence wouldn’t be a forever but rather a temporary thing.

However, it had made deception feel like a stab to the chest as well. His heart still ached whenever his mind traveled almost four months into the past, whenever memories of that windy night floated towards the surface of his conscience. The blond could have predicted something like that or at least something similar, but the scene that ended forming part of his reality was not something he had really thought about as it was included in the line of not so positive thoughts he had tried so hard to ignore.

Said fateful day was tattooed on his memory with permanent ink, always a reminder of the torturous hours he had spent standing up in front of an empty gate, waiting for his blue eyes to catch a glimpse of the short dark-haired he had been away from for so long. Seeing and hearing from him had been wonderful, he enjoyed those moments when he would find himself sitting down on the comfy couch of their living room, a relatively heavy laptop warming up his legs as he listened to the other talk about his day on his free time, but that wouldn’t really compare to sitting in front of Nico, to having him back.

Those times had slowly started to disappear as months flew by anyway, especially when the twelve hour difference began to be difficult to ignore. Some days he would find the Italian yawning once every five line of dialog that were exchanged between the two of them, his head resting on the palm of his hand as he stared at the image his own camera was projecting with tired eyes. Will guessed that he must have looked tired as well during their video calls, or at least during the ones the brown eyed started, since Nico sometimes reminded him not so subtly to look at his reflection. The downside of being a dozen of hours ahead, although it could be as well twelve behind. Maybe once upon a time the blond would have found the concept to be fun, however, right now, he was not sure how it could be anything but torture.

He shook his head, pulling himself from the scene that had replayed on his mind for a while now, pushing the picture of him frozen in place as he leaned against a nearby wall, one of his shaky hands griping his cellphone forcefully while the other was about to let go of the delicate bouquet of red flowers which seemed to slowly get drained of all life. This time would be different, event would not play out the same exact way: he would show up.

His glance fixed its attention on the windows displayed in the far away side of the area to his left as the lightness of the surrounding the zone brightened considerably. One of the neighbors must have been playing with the Christmas decorations, he assumed at least, although the slight changes they had been exposed to could still not make them a competitor against the parade of luminescent stars outside, which made his thoughts travel through the memory lane.

It had been a rather cold winter afternoon, the sun shining in the sky under a veil of whitish clouds, lighting up the celestial dome with the help of various series of small bulbs which were wrapping their full body length around different objects he could find on his surroundings. He passed a hand through his blond locks, pushing them out of the view as the sharp blade made contact with the layer of thick ice, leaving a trail of faint patterns made of lines.

The blue eyed pushed himself forward carefully, his skates making him slide through the frozen surface in relative ease. He might, in a way, dislike the low temperatures that came with the season, where he was born it rarely got to snow, forcing him to get used to that new climate environment once he moved to New York, but things like this kind of activities made enduring the weather a more bearable task.

His stare got caught by the giant tree that glowed a mixture of blue, red and bright green as he made his way to the center of the rink, a star of more points than the ones he could count at plain sight, considering the height of at least 90 feet the item had, showing the area of Midtown Manhattan that on the distance it could have as well been confused my an actual celestial body on Earth who was visiting just for the last section of the year. It was the season when the Norway spruce made company to the artificial waterfall, bound to illuminate the ice near the entrance in a more personal manner, behind a statue of golden color that Will, personally, never exactly got to comprehend.

The apparent spell he found himself under, however, shattered as soon as he heard the frozen layer of water made a cracking sound not so far away from him. The blond turned his head towards the unexpected noise, his blue irises finding the image of a rather short guy sitting on the ice just a couple of steps away as he appeared to mutter something under his breath, words that he assumed were probably not the greatest to repeat.

Will hesitantly started to move a little closer to the dark-haired individual, wanting to see if the later reacted in any way since apparently he didn’t had any plans on standing up anytime soon. The other did not move a lot despite having been shifting on his place for a couple of seconds, he continued to stay relatively still, his hands occasionally appearing to attempt to grab the frozen surface with his fingers to use it as a support.

“Do you need any help?” He had asked as he extended a hand towards the dark haired who decided to look up at him with his chocolate eyes to then glance at the arm that was being offered towards his direction.

“Who said I needed any?” The other pronounced in a snarky way, crossing his arms stubbornly, his narrowed eyes sending a glare at him that showed more than evident annoyance.

“I insist.” Will had said as a response to the other’s comment, a bright but gentle smile adorning his features. “Besides, I don’t think you would like staying close and personal with the ice for any longer when you could just stand and keep going.”

The dark-haired just rolled his eyes, grabbing the hand of the blond tightly before standing up, his eyes avoiding his glance. The blue eyed was not sure if he should say something else, at least at the time, the shorter boy looked as if he were to explode anytime soon, deduction not only affirmed by the expression he was wearing but also by the rather aggressive way the other was getting the small fragments of melting ice off the surface of his jeans.

“I… Thank you, I suppose.” He had finally muttered under his breath, the frown on his face not seeming to feel like disappearing anytime soon. Suddenly, a pair of dark chocolate eyes were looking up at him, filled with a lot of silent statements that refused to go one at the time. “I could have still done it myself.”

“I know.” The blond let out a quiet chuckle in amusement at the words that came from the mouth of the being in front of him, not bothering to cover the bubbling sound even when seeing the expression the other was wearing. “I’m Will.”

The brown eyed raised an eyebrow inquisitively before shrugging, becoming for him pretty obvious that the blond would probably not leave him alone until there was some proper interaction between the two. Besides, as much as it annoyed him to admit, the other had indeed helped him out; no matter how much he would like to deny the previous situation, it would not change the fact that it still happened. “Nico.”

The owner of the bright blue irises grinned with his stare, shaking the hand he was still holding before letting go, to the relief of the dark-haired.

“Glad to be of help.” Will said, a smile still present on his features, skating backwards slightly to make some distance between the two, not really wanting to make the other uncomfortable.

The dark-haired rolled his eyes, though no real malice could be seen on the gesture but rather a hint of amusement could be identified on his stare. “Don’t flatter yourself, I’m just out of practice.”

Against all odds, their conversation didn’t stop there; in some way, for some reason, their talk continued until their time on the ice rink was over, maybe even more. It was entertaining for the blond in a way, getting to figure out things about the other, try to guess some pieces of information and seeing the brown eyed smirk silently at his poor attempts to gather data.

It turned out to be that they apparently were studying on the same college, although different careers. Of course, that was no an obstacle for them to initiate something: a considerably awkward kind of friendship until time slowly shaped it into something else.

He heard the holiday themed cuckoo clock sound from its location, a short melody invading the atmosphere for a span of time that only meant overthinking resources to him. Another hour had passed and there was still no trace of his special guest.

Will couldn’t even bare to look at anything, the mere sight of something would probably just serve to trigger some memories, replay scenes on his mind that would just make him feel even worse. He had promised he would come and he did trust the other, a lot, but the possibility still existed: the brown eyed not showing up, not appearing either after telling him in multiple occasions that he would even move earth if necessary to finally be home.

He rubbed his eyes quickly, his glance falling once more on the banquet he had prepared early, the lack of warm, transparent, smoke showing once for all that any trace of heat had vanished long ago. He let out a quiet sigh before hesitantly reaching out for one of the multiple Christmas cookies placed near his own untouched plate. The sugar biscuit felt cold against his fingers, almost frozen, though he was thankful its texture hadn’t been really modified by all the time it had spent out in the open.

The blond basically shoved the entire object on his mouth, mutilating the figure of the adorable snowman he had drew with such care after having baked said dessert along with all its other companions, all Christmas themed cookies that he’ll probably have to eat before they got hard as stone. A part of him just wanted to threw them right away, they were too similar to the ones he and the dark-haired had made together on their first holiday as a couple due to Will’s insistence.

That was a nice time. Their kitchen had ended up being an utter mess, there was floor and sugar in every inch of the floor, it was pretty surprising that they hadn’t tripped and fallen while they were in the middle of baking. His blond locks had ended up being sticky for hours, some sections of hair feeling incredibly weird even for days; he didn’t care about all the sources that said egg was great for the layer attached to his head, they had no clear idea of how his skin had ended up feeling after he tried to wash everything of him.

He wondered if he should just start eating, even if just a little as he waited. In all honesty, he really doubted the absence of some food would go completely unnoticed but he was certain that missing portions of certain dishes in small quantity wouldn’t be missed as much.

Will looked through the items over the wooden surface, his eyes analyzing every single one of the possible options. The few ones whose place of origin was Italy, though, were off the list, those ones were being reserved until the dark-haired were to finally arrive for dinner.

Nico had celebrated the last three Christmas all the way across the sea and he could bet that, even though he would have missed the food served on the country he had spent most of his life in, he would appreciate some, at least attempt, of Italian cuisine present in this year’s table. Certainly, he was not an actual chef with real experience, he had studied to be a doctor not to work at any field other than the medical, but he really wanted the dark-haired to have a good, or at least decent, time.

His hand reached for the blackish bottle of wine placed near the center of the table, not so far away from a pair of empty glasses. Nico had been gifted that drink made from Glera grapes before he went away, it surprised the blond that it apparently hadn’t change as much. The blue eyed knew that it should be consumed as young as possible, according to the other’s words, preferably within three years although, as far as his knowledge about it went, it could be aged for up to seven.

He carefully left the item on its previous place again, not wanting anything unwanted to occur to it before the time came; Will missed the cold touch as soon as it disappear. Without any other distraction, his eyes went back to wandering around the area, trying his best to just stop thinking about possibilities, especially since some of them were, at the end, highly improbable.

The tree covered in shiny lights was still working as well as it was at the beginning of the night, impassive and ignorant of all the thoughts violently coming to his mind. Even if things at the end resulted to be…according to plan, decorating the branches of the plant once more, after a while of not doing so, was really nice. It’s not as if he had really stopped in the past but, for once in a long time, he had almost literally thrown every single ornament that could be found in the labeled Christmas boxes at the dark greenish figure.

Of course, that was not the only zone that was fully immersed, possibly drowning, on the spirit of the holiday. There were some festive wreaths across some fractions of the wall accompanied by glowing electric garlands, both forming a pattern together that ended on the entrance of the hallway that had to be crossed to go to the rooms, almost touching the tiny and delicate mistletoe that the blond had hanged right in the middle earlier that same evening.

He wondered if he should just take it off. When the dark-haired came, he would most likely be pretty tired, especially if the blond were to consider the different time zones the places they both were had. While he was at it, maybe it would be better if he just began taking care of the food in front of him, put it somewhere else to conserve it better.

His phone vibrated abruptly, his head turning to face the device although he was not certain if that had been the wisest thing to do once his eyes landed on the message appearing on the screen.

‘Won’t be able to make it tonight. Sorry.’

That was everything that could be read, the only thing that was sent to him. Will just wanted to bang his head against the table, maybe a wall for all that mattered, there was not really that much of a difference. That was the problem with wishful thinking: at the end, it mostly just brought trouble and problems.

‘Don’t worry about it. Merry Christmas.’ The blond typed as fast as he could before pressing send without glancing at the screen even once, not even when it turned back to a deep black, glad that he knew how to set the device in silent without having to look any longer.

For a second, just a millisecond, he wondered if the brown eyed had known beforehand, if he had previously known about the change of plans but decided to wait until then to throw the bomb. Will shook his head, it probably wasn’t like that…and it probably was really important for the other to break his promise, to go against his own words…again.

He quickly glanced underneath the tree with the corner of his eyes. The presents the Italian had sent would come before the end of the year as it had been the previous years, a while after Christmas and without the other to see his reaction other than even more time later when they both had free time. He really liked the fact that, although they were away, Nico had thought about him enough to buy him something, no need to get him wrong, but he would give all those marvelous gifts away just to see the other face to face at least for an hour.

The blond could hear people singing outside along with the sound of children’s laugher, both filling the air along with the brilliant starts on Earth that seemed to detach lightly everywhere, all those actions trying to either cheer him up or just seeing if they could make his emotional state even worse.

It didn’t matter which one of the options ended up being the correct one, he was glad that the celebration of the holidays kept being cheerful for other people, glad that they were having fun in the snow or just near the warmth of the chimney, that someone was holding them tight as they told stories and ate dessert. It was actually a nice thought, even if his reality was not like that at the current time.

If it wasn’t for the knocking sound that announced the presence of a person outside the door, he would have just continued to shallow in a mix of satisfaction for others and self-pity. The blond let out a quiet sigh, standing up carefully, his phone forgotten as he slowly started to make his way towards the entrance. In all honesty, he was too tired to check through the small hole placed at the level of his eye, reason for why he just ended up grabbing the knob and opening the door fully.

His blue eyes widened slightly and he was certain his mouth might have as well been hanging open. Will let his glance wander around the features of the being in front of him, roaming and analyzing every single detail that he might have begun forgetting, not that he thought that could actually be a possible thing.

His hair was a little longer, making the dark locks attached to his head look even messier than the last time he had saw him. The blond could bet that the brown eyed might have as well grown a little although he couldn’t be certain due to the way the back of the other seemed to arch forward at the weight of the each one of the bags his arms were carrying.

Will moved aside, allowing the dark-haired to step inside the place, his eyes not leaving his figure at all. “Merry Christmas to you as well…”

The brown eyed placed his heavy suitcases on the previously polished floor before turning towards the other, who was leaning against the front door. Nico rolled his eyes, slightly amused, as he walked towards Will, staring into his eyes once he found himself in front of him before wrapping his arms around the blond in a quick hug.

“I’m sorry I arrived faster than my gift.” He said as they pulled away. It was Will’s turn to roll his eyes, a bright grin adorning his features softly.

Before the Italian could even draft a question on his head, the blue eyed pressed his lips against the cold mouth of the other, who took not so long ago to start responding to the gesture.

“Don’t be an idiot…” Will said as he rested his forehead against his carefully, his hand reaching for Nico’s hand, which the dark-haired grabbed happily. “All I want for Christmas is you.”

**Author's Note:**

> [I'm also on tumblr](http://glowing-dimp-as-an-ember.tumblr.com/)


End file.
